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Most arabs know this speech will make little difference

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Most Arabs Know This Speech Will Make Little Difference

I suspect that what the Arab world wants to hear is that Obama will take his soldiers out of Muslim lands

By Robert Fisk

June 02, 2009 "The Independent" — More and more, it looks like the same old melody that Bush’s lads used to sing. We’re not against the Muslim world. In fact, we are positively for it. We want you to have democracy, up to a point. We love Arab "moderates" and we want to reach out to you and be your friends. Sorry about Iraq. And sorry – again, up to a point – about Afghanistan and we do hope that you understand why we’ve got to have a little "surge" in Helmand among all those Muslim villages with their paper-thin walls. And yes, we’ve made mistakes.

Everyone in the world, or so it seems, is waiting to see if this is what Barack Obama sings. I’m not sure, though, that the Arabs are waiting with such enthusiasm as the rest of the world.

 

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Auschwitz survivor i can identify with palestinian youth

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Auschwitz survivor: "I can identify with Palestinian youth"
Adri Nieuwhof, The Electronic Intifada,

 Hajo Meyer, author of the book The End of Judaism, was born in Bielefeld, in Germany, in 1924. In 1939, he fled on his own at age 14 to the Netherlands to escape the Nazi regime, and was unable to attend school. A year later, when the Germans occupied the Netherlands he lived in hiding with a poorly forged ID. Meyer was captured by the Gestapo in March 1944 and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp a week later. He is one of the last survivors of Auschwitz.

Adri Nieuwhof:What would you like to say to introduce yourself to EI’s readers?

Hajo Meyer: I had to quit grammar school in Bielefeld after the Kristallnacht [the two-day pogrom against Jews in Nazi Germany], in November 1938. It was a terrible experience for an inquisitive boy and his parents. Therefore, I can fully identify with the Palestinian youth that are hampered in their education. And I can in no way identify with the criminals who make it impossible for Palestinian youth to be educated.

AN: What motivated you to write your book, The End of Judaism?

HM: In the past, the European media have written extensively about extreme right-wing politicians like Joerg Haider in Austria and Jean-Marie Le Pen in France. But when Ariel Sharon was elected [prime minister] in Israel in 2001, the media remained silent. But in the 1980s I understood the deeply fascist thinking of these politicians. With the book I wanted to distance myself from this. I was raised in Judaism with the equality of relationships among human beings as a core value. I only learned about nationalist Judaism when I heard settlers defend their harassment of Palestinians in interviews. When a publisher asked me to write about my past, I decided to write this book, in a way, to deal with my past. People of one group who dehumanize people who belong to another group can do this, because they either have learned to do so from their parents, or they have been brainwashed by their political leaders. This has happened for decades in Israel in that they manipulate the Holocaust for their political aims. In the long-run the country is destructing itself this way by inducing their Jewish citizens to become paranoid. In 2005 [then Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon illustrated this by saying in the Knesset [the Israeli parliament], we know we cannot trust anyone, we only can trust ourselves. This is the shortest possible definition of somebody who suffers from clinical paranoia. One of the major annoyances in my life is that Israel by means of trickery calls itself a Jewish state, while in fact it is Zionist. It wants the maximum territory with a minimum number of Palestinians. I have four Jewish grandparents. I am an atheist. I share the Jewish socio-cultural inheritance and I have learned about Jewish ethics. I don’t wish to be represented by a Zionist state. They have no idea about the Holocaust. They use the Holocaust to implant paranoia in their children.

 

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Un Isaraeli buffer zone eats up 30 percent of Gazas arable land

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UN: Israeli buffer zone eats up 30 percent of Gaza’s arable land

Looking to increase security, Israel dropped leaflets last week warning residents to stay at least 1,000 feet from the border or risk being shot.
By Erin Cunningham | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
from the June 1, 2009 edition

 

Gaza City, Gaza – Israel’s warning came from the sky, as it often does in the Gaza Strip. But this time warplanes dropped neither bombs nor missiles on the impoverished Palestinian territory, but thousands of tiny leaflets warning Gaza’s residents to keep away from the 30-mile-long border they share with Israel.

Stay at least 300 meters (1,000 feet) from the border, the May 25 pamphlets advised Palestinians, or risk being shot by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Once a plush scene of rolling olive, citrus, and pomegranate groves, much of the border region is now just a barren landscape, marked only by the presence of IDF tanks, military watchtowers, and the occasional pop of gunfire.

Farmers and their families have been displaced, too afraid to return to their fields, while international humanitarian organizations are unable to make an assessment of the needs and damages of the area in the aftermath of the assault.

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Press release three south Africans to scale kilamanjaro for charity

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Press Release

Three South Africans will attempt to climb Mount Kilamanjaro – the highest free-standing mountain in the world – to raise funds for Palestinian children affected by war. Durban-based dentist, Muhammad Ridwaan Khan, and Gauteng electrical engineers, Nadim Mahomed and Muhammad Taher Khan, form part of an international team that will undertake the physically and mentally demanding journey to the top of Kilamanjaro from 2-12 July.

The expedition has been organised by the humanitarian group Muslim Hands as part of their annual Green Ribbon Week, an annual international fundraising initiative that raises awareness of the plight of children living in war-torn regions. The funds raised by the Kilamanjaro trip will be donated to children in the decimated Gaza area. Last year’s Green Ribbon Week project saw 60 people scale the Great Wall of China in aid of children in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan.

“We hope that by personally challenging ourselves physically and mentally to reach the top of Africa, we can motivate and inspire others to join us in this challenge to raise as much money as possible for Gaza’s children of war,” said Muhammed Taher Khan.

The group aims to raise R250 000 which will be used to provide food, medicines, educational supplies and trauma-counselling for Gazan children. Members of the public that would like to contribute to this cause can deposit funds directly into the following account:

Account Name: Muslim Hands

Bank: Standard Bank

Account Number: 071 621 881

Branch: Parow – 031110

Please indicate in the reference the Donor ID 933393 and type of donation (Zakaat/ Lillah/ Sadaqah) so that the money can be processed accordingly. E-mail your payment confirmation to zaid@muslimhands.co.za to receive official acknowledgement for your contribution.

While the trio have managed to secure some sponsorships, a substantial part of their trip expenses have not been covered, and they are appealing to the public to help them meet these costs before 17 June. Donations towards the trip costs can also be deposited into the same account, indicating ‘SPONSORSHIP’ as reference. Please note that no charity (ie. Zakaat, Lillah, Sadaqah) donated will be used to fund the trip costs.

Team-members will keep the public updated by blogging about their experiences on http://kilimanjaro4gaza.blogspot.com. Facebook users can also join the Kilamanjaro Expedition group on http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=72443843013

For more media interviews, photographs and more information, contact:

Muhammed Taher Khan

Ph: (Work) (016) 960 5288

       (Home) (011) 486 0331

       (Cell)    082 535 1201

E-mail: muhammad.khan@sasol.com

 

Nadim Mahomed

Ph: 082 221 2312

Muhammad Ridwaan Khan

082 664 8898

 For Muslims Hands

Zaid Ali 

Phone: (011) 830 2955

Email: zaid@muslimhands.co.za

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